I received an email from a breeder. I have heard her story many times, but she presented it so passionately and so well, I asked if I could share it with all of you. Here it is.

First, thank you for all you are doing for epilepsy research in Labradors. You have provided so much information to those (me) who knew little about this disease. I read all of your posts on the Wiscoy & Woodhaven forums and thought, "thank goodness I don't have to worry about this!" And just when I thought it would never happen, it has.

I recently heard from a puppy owner who wrote and told me that her dog has epilepsy. She didn't want to tell me, but her vet insisted that I would want to know (which I did). This "puppy" is now almost seven years old and I didn't have a clue. So, I contacted the people who own littermates and found that there is another puppy with epilepsy. I'm not sure why they never told me, except that with medication their dogs are leading a fairly normal life and they adore them.

So meanwhile, for the last almost seven years, I have continued to breed my line down through this litter's mother. And I own a littermate to the affected dogs who is expecting her second litter in two weeks. Needless to say, I am panic stricken that this is going to crop up again. The mother had 4 litters and I have not heard of any other cases of epilepsy, but will try to contact as many as I can to find out.

The only thing that is keeping me from falling apart is that I might be able to help find a cure by submitting blood samples. I can send in one of the littermates who seizes, my girl who doesn't and even the mother, if they need it. I will pursue that with all of the information you have posted on instructions.

Again, thank you for helping to eliminate this disease from our Labraradors.

It happened to me also. I've been breeding for about 30 years. Had no clue that "it" was in my lines. Unfortunately, it hit me double. I bred 2 bitches, one I owned and one I had leased, to a male I had owned and bred for 9 years with no history of producing seizures. Lo and behold, by the time both litters were 3 years old, both of my keepers had seizured as well as several other individuals. Also, of course, I had bred one of the seizure girls that I kept before she seizured. A litter of 5 pups was produced. All were spayed/neutered. I have since had another of my bitches that has started to seizure at nearly 4 years. Of course I had a litter with her also. Yes. She is spayed now. At this point I have sent almost 20 samples to U of Missouri for the study. I speak to Liz or Jessica periodically. They say that the study is going well. Another bit of info that may be helpful to you is that they THINK (not absolutely certain) that epilepsy in labradors is a simple recessive gene. If that's the case, it will certainly clarify things in the future.
Please send samples from as many pups from that litter as you can. Stay in touch with the puppy owners in the future. I did have one pup from my original seizure litter that didn't show signs until she was 5 years old. I had to change her status in the study from unaffected to seizure pup so as not to make their study more difficult.
If everyone who has the problem arise in their line would send in samples, I'm certain we would get answers much sooner than if everyone simply hides from the facts. We can beat this thing, but not without the cooperation of the labrador community!

Joan, thank you for posting this story and for the other reply so far. I am very new in labradors and I often hear breeders ringside at shows tell me that "so and so" produces epilepsy and then another breeder at another show will say. "so and so" has never produced it.

These are very reputable and experienced breeders, and yet, there doesn't seem to be a consensus. Some say that have seen it from experience and others say they have never seen it from experience.

Being new, it's difficult to know what the right decision is for choosing a stud, or for understanding the background of a bitch. I'm told, "all lines have their issues", which I expect it true. There is no perfect dog on the outside, so clearly that would be true on the inside.

So what is the truth? I am afraid those who know about it in their lines sometimes hide it. I understand. It's terrifying to think, as the above posters have described, how it can be perpetuated without knowledge.

A test will be a very helpful, and hopefully definitive way to gain insight to this horrible problem and learn how best to breed around it for future generations.

I'm sorry for these stories. We can only hope the information that might be correct and I emphasize from what I read 'might' is that indeed it is a simple recessive and we can take care of it like PRA and EIC. It also means as it happens many times stud dogs can no longer be blamed and that indeed it would take 2 to produce it. I hope everyone continues to send in the samples. Thank you for posting

A family bought a sweet yellow puppy from us almost 7 yrs ago. 2.5 yrs ago, this family returned their boy to us because they could no longer afford or deal with his grand mal seizures. I wouldn't have known their dog had developed seizures had I not called them up to see how their boy was doing. They just didn't think to call me I guess. This dog started seizuring when he was 1 yr old but he was 2 when the family and I got together with their boy and a few related dogs I owned for blood draws to participate in the epilepsy study in the midwest. While my vet thinks our boy's seizures are not genetic related but more to do with something that went wrong while still in utero..congenital issue. He had 9 other siblings in the litter and none of those dogs to date have seizured. The mother to this dog had several litters and non of those dogs seizured, nor the other girls that I kept out of those lines who went on to have litters.
Non the less, I would like to take this opportunity to express my concern about some breeders who know their dogs produce seizures and continue on their merry way. I don't think it happens a lot but epilepsy is inherited if seizing Labradors are cropping up in the same lines, obviously.
I have to say, our experience since taking our seizure dog back has been a real eye opener. I was warned by his previous family that I will be shocked when he has his first seizure at our house. I was thinking to myself, how bad could it really be. He was put on seizure meds shortly before we got him back. About 8 months later, he woke me up by thrashing against the living room wall, which woke me up. It was the most violent, horrible unreal experience I have ever witnessed in owning dogs. My vet upped his dosage, more liver panels, more changes of meds, more liver panels, seizures now every 3 to 4 months for awhile until his meds no longer work as he started having grand mal seizures every 10 hours so he is back on Phenobarbital all over again. It really is a viscous cycle. To keep him from going into 3 and 4 grand mal seizures in a row, I have to put liquid Valium up his anal.
It's hard to take vacations because of his seizures as I would worry about him even if we did leave him with someone else. We love him so much and his previous family loved him but I could tell, the situation of taking care of a seizuring grand mal dog was over whelming them.
Please breeders, participate in sending in blood samples for their research program so they can finalize their work and allow for a simple genetic test for this horrible disease.

This is very scary stuff to read. Thanks for sending in samples. A test would be great. I do wish more stud owners would do the right thing. The boys are out there producing so many more pups than the girls. Yes, might take both. But studs are out that we all know about. Just like the heart problems. This is so sad.

JOan, how is this study coming along? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? I am all for any tools we as breeders have at our fingertips to allow for healthy puppies. Thanks for doing this.

Anne,

Can you say very sloooooowly? The initial forum post, looking for blood from sibling pairs, was published 4 years ago this April. The last update published was in January, 2012 when there were 29 pairs and 200 dogs, counting the pairs and their relatives. That is a start.

Research techniques have evolved and the researchers have found the families are providing the most useful information. 25 pairs was what they were looking for for the initial mapping study. We have that. But, the more they get, the sooner they will have an answer.

I spoke with Jessie and she said they are talking to several labrador people who will be bringing in some sought after family groups. She asked that I wait for them to come in and then she will provide new numbers.

If we want this solved, it is going to require cooperation from the lab community as a whole. Please remember the PRA research. Several teams were looking for a test for PRA. Optigen came up with a marker test that did not provide accurate results. But it did bring in blood from a huge number of dogs. The blood for the marker test is what gave Optigen the blood they needed to come up with an accurate test.

There will be a test one day. The more help we labrador folks give them, the sooner that day will come.

How do I find the original seizure study thread?

put epilepsy in the search box found in the grey area at the top of each thread

Thank you! I also reached Joan today. We will be submitting a mother and most of the litter for the study.

Your tenacity in this research is admirable Joan.

What is sad is how many breeders don't retire Labradors that have produced epilepsy. The same is happening with TVD.

The only way to stop diseases that we don't have testing for is to stop breeding those dogs that have produced it.

I admire those that have donated blood from siblings with and without epilepsy and who have stopped breeding them also. Those that continue breeding producers or those with epilepsy or other diseases should be ashamed of themselves.

I've seen seizing dogs and it can be quite disturbing.

Remember, not all dogs that seize have idiopathic epilepsy. There are other diseases that can cause seizures. For example, low thyroid levels, kidney or liver disease and other medical problems. If your Lab seizes, get to the vet to try to find out the cause if possible. Either way, the dog should NOT be bred.

Thanks for all of the updates and hard work Joan.